Why Cincinnati was and still is the perfect place for the Crosstown Showdown

Cincinnatians love their high schools and their history. High school sports present a unique opportunity to enjoy both. They love their Glory Days.
Melanie Laughman, mlaughman@enquirer.com

Colerain's Damon Sims tries to break free from a tackle by St. Xavier's Luke Kuechly during the first half in the second game of the Skyline Chili Crosstown Showdown on Friday August 22, 2008.(Photo: The Enquirer/Cara Owsley)

One of the differences between a good idea and a bad idea is often a question of whether or not persistence follows that idea.

Nearly 25 years ago, Tom Gamble had an idea for a Cincinnati high school football showcase and today, in its 21st year with Gamble still at the helm as the event organizer, the Skyline Chili Crosstown Showdown is arguably the preeminent high school football showcase in the country.

It was an idea, accompanied by persistence, that became a beloved annual sporting event billed as “the nation’s largest and longest running high school football showcase of its kind.”

The perfect setting

In 1989, Gamble was working as a reporter at The Cincinnati Post. At the time, one of his assignments was covering the Buddy LaRosa Classic at Riverfront Stadium.

Coin toss between LaSalle and St. Xavier Friday, October 6th at St. Xavier High School(Photo: Alex Vehr for the Enquirer)

“It was essentially Cincinnati versus the world,” said Gamble. “I remember sitting down there thinking to myself, ‘this is kind of cool,’ but I looked around and it had local team, local fans – out-of-area team, really no fans.

“But I thought, ‘Man, Cincinnati high school football is so good … if we could create a center stage,’ so what I did was I kind of did my own little straw research poll. I contacted athletic directors, some football coaches.

“This would have been almost ’95,” the year Gamble left The Post to complete his graduate degree in Sports Administration at Xavier University.

“While there, one of my professors was a gentleman named Don Schumacher who had his own sports marketing company. So I needed somebody to take it and believe enough in it and say, ‘hey, this could work.’”

So Gamble rolled the dice and hit his mark.

“He hired me to do some other stuff for his company but to also work on this in ’95,” Gamble said.

“A resounding yes,” was the response when Gamble approached coaches and administrators, inquiring of their interest to participate.

So in 1996, Gamble got going, planning a few years out for the first Showdown in 1998.

“It was a little trickier back then because UC, the college season wasn’t moved back yet so they had home games on those first two Saturday’s,” Gamble said. “So I had to do two Friday night doubleheaders.”

On Friday, September 4, 1998, La Salle and Princeton played in the first ever Showdown game, followed by Fairfield and Elder, the only team to play in every year of the Showdown.

A week later, Beechwood took on Ryle and Moeller battled Covington Catholic.

The following year, Gamble switched to all four games on a Saturday up at Nippert, and all of a sudden, the Showdown took off like a quarter horse down a fast track.

The matchmaker’s burden

What Gamble quickly learned in those two years before the first Showdown was that simply scheduling games is almost as difficult as winning a staring contest against a big brown bear.

Scheduling’s only gotten harder as the event has grown over the years.

“It took these people putting a lot of faith in me to let me schedule their games,” said Gamble. “Maybe I’m a masochist but I kind of like part of that, the challenge of that was always something that while, at times, I was awake at night just because I’m thinking to myself, ‘Holy hell, if I don’t get them a game…’”

Over the years, there have been headaches. Games fall through for one reason or another.

Actually, Gamble feels like not having Nippert has allowed him a little more creativity in how he lines up games. Fans will get a good look at that later in July when the Showdown schedule for 2018 is revealed.

‘Without this passion this thing wouldn’t exist’

Passion, like persistence, is essential to an idea.

“This is year 21 and when you think about it there are very few things that last that long on any level and that’s what makes it cool,” said Gamble. “Let’s be honest, the reason this event is going on 21 years is the high school football’s so damn good. It’s coaches, it’s players, it’s teams, it’s tradition, it’s fans … it’s not around if the product isn’t what it is.”

Greater Cincinnati and its undying love of football helped make the Showdown what it is today.

West fans cheer on their team before the game againt Elder.(Photo: Michael Noyes for the Enquirer)

That’s why during a game every year, Gamble steps away from his in-game duties, away from the planning and relentless double-checking, to sit back and watch. He may walk alone into an end zone so that for a moment he can allow himself to be completely immersed in the spectacle of high school football.

“One thing I always try to do, though, is it might be a game or two, I always try to say, ‘Walk away by yourself in an end zone or somewhere and just kind of sit back and say, man, this is cool,’” said Gamble. “You have to remind yourself … and I don’t do anything for accolades … I think it’s important to step back and forget about all the headaches and the hours and say, ‘This is really cool.’”

There’s a running joke with Gamble and those who know him best that every year is going to be the last year he organizes the Showdown.

“I always thought to myself as long as the schools like it and the fans keep coming out, I’ll keep doing it. It doesn’t matter what you do, in your business you cover and write about what people are interested in, and I guess for me that’s the thing about this – you keep doing something when people continue to want it,” Gamble said. “And let’s not kid ourselves, if you don’t have sponsors, I mean Skyline Chili, come on. When it started and had that Skyline Chili Crosstown logo attached to it, I think that helped.”

All things come with an expiration date. Gamble knows that, but he said when that day arrives, he wouldn’t mind seeing someone else take over the captain’s chair.

“I think anything you started that’s still going even if you’re not the one doing it is pretty cool,” Gamble said.

It takes a lot of people to help execute an event that’s grown from four games the first year to now 20 games every season.

Gamble gave credit to the high school coaches and athletic directors for their continued interest and support.

“They’re the reason, they really are,” he said.

In the last 17 years of the Showdown, ticket prices have only been raised one dollar, Gamble said, referencing the 21 Showdown posters hanging in his office.

The price has been steady because the people have been steady.

“If somebody had said 21 years later it would still be going and going strong … that’s a tribute to high school football,” said Gamble. “People can’t get enough of it.”